The hours

The Office of Readings

The Office of Readings has been created by the 1970 reforms of the Liturgy
of the Hours.

Originally the office of Vigils was created to be recited in the middle
of the night - not just before going to bed, as with Compline, but by getting
up in the dark to recite it.

This proceeding being found to be too heroic except for some monasteries,
Vigils began to be said first thing in the morning, just before what was
then called Matins. In due course the name "Matins" became applied
to the whole combination, and the second half (which had been called Matins
to start with) began to be called Lauds.

Matins, the Catholic Encyclopaedia says, was "the most important office
of the day and for the variety and richness of its elements the most remarkable".
After an invitatory psalm that served as an introduction to the whole Divine
Office of the day, there followed twelve psalms and three readings on ordinary
days, and eighteen psalms and nine readings on Sundays. This was indeed
rich and varied, but it was also too much for human frailty and certainly
impracticable for the laity to find time for in the mornings, especially
if it was immediately followed by Lauds.

The 1970 reforms prune Matins to a more digestible three psalms and two
readings. More importantly, Matins is also purged of any relation to the
time of day, and it may now be said at any time at all, whatever is most
convenient. It is even possible to say, in the evening, the Office of Readings
for the following day.

Of course there is no reason not to continue having the Office of Readings
in its old place as the first Hour of the day, but the reform makes it easier
for people to fit it wherever there is room for it in their daily routine.

The Invitatory Psalm has accordingly been detached from the Office of Readings,
and is directed to be said before whichever Hour you recite first on a particular
day.

The structure of the Hour

The Office of Readings starts with three psalms (or parts of psalms) with
their antiphons.

Then comes a reading from Scripture: the readings may repeat every year
or every two years, and at present Universalis follows the Latin printed
books by following the one-year cycle only.

Then comes a second reading, which may be from the Fathers of the Church
or may be by or about the saint of the day.